Chimaira's Highest Chart-Debut: New Album Vaults To No 74 On billboard Top 200

NEW YORK (RoadRunner Records) - CHIMAIRA'S self-titled third album debuts at No 74 on Billboard's Top 200 chart this week with 13,968 albums sold. The follow up to 2003's The Impossibility of Reason, Chimaira debuted with a 68% increase over their last album's first week sales. Says lead singer Mark Hunter, "It's been an amazing summer with the tours we have been on and now we are celebrating the release of our new record. I have always said that we have the most loyal fans on the planet and this proves it!" In addition to the stellar first week sales, the album, called "bleakly thrilling" by the New York Times, has quickly ascended to No 1 at Metal/Specialty Radio. The band has been touring the states relentlessly over the past few months, first as one of the headliners on the inaugural Sounds of the Underground tour and most recently on their very own headlining tour with Six Feet Under, All That Remains and 3 Inches of Blood. Next up for these Metal masters is the Blackest of the Black tour where they will be direct support for Danzig.

Led by the powerful first single "Nothing Remains," Chimaira was given the highest marks by Revolver Magazine, who gave the album 5 stars and called it a "masterpiece". The video for "Nothing Remains" was directed by Shane Drake (Trivium, Still Remains) and is scheduled to debut on FUSE next week and will make its debut on MTV2s Headbangers Ball on Saturday, August 27th. Other tracks on the album include "Salvation," "Save Ourselves" and the personal look at a friend's suicide, "Lazarus."

Chimaira formed in 1998 in Cleveland, OH and have released two albums to date including their debut album Pass Out of Existence. They have toured the world several times over as an opener and, for the last few years, a headlining act. In 2004 the band released the highly provocative documentary The Dehumanizing Process on DVD, which showed two years in the life of the band from writing The Impossibility of Reason through their touring in support of that album, and all of the turmoil and drama contained therein. Chimaira is Mark Hunter on vocals, Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries on guitars, Jim LaMarca on bass, Kevin Talley on drums and Chris Spicuzza on electronics/keyboards.